London Food & Drink News: 19 April 2012

To celebrate its tenth birthday, Marylebone's Caffe Caldesi will spotlight two dishes that have been on the menu from its start: Linguine Caldesi with tomato, chilli and cream; and the restaurant's “legendary” tiramisu that uses Tuscan fortified wine instead of the traditional Marsala. Anyone who orders one of these dishes over the Caffe’s birthday weekend (21 and 22 April) will receive either a free glass of prosecco or a bag of Caldesi pasta to takeaway.

London food collaborative, Parlour Tricks, returns with a spring inspired dinner party, the second in their series of pop up feasts. Following the sold out success of the Feast of St. Martin, “Spring Forth!” will be a celebration of flowers, spring and the English countryside. Taking place in a Hackney florist, dinner will be served amongst the flowers, followed by a candle lit soirée with live music, Djs and booze. Tix are £45 and include dinner and party. Reception is at 7.30pm and the fun lasts till 2am. Address revealed upon booking. Visit www.parlour-tricks.co.uk to book.

Harrods has a couple of “Chop, Slice and Dice” workshops lined up for Saturday 21 and Friday 27 April. The 21st will see Michel Roux Jr demonstrating knife skills along with recipes from his latest book which he will be available to sign. It's a freebie. On the 27th, Mark Sargeant will host a private knife skills masterclass where no more than 20 “customers will be able to learn tricks of the trade under the tutorage of Mark Sargeant as well as trialling a sampling menu inspired by dishes from Mark’s restaurant, Rocksalt”. Tix for the Sargeant masterclass are £80, £50 of which will be redeemable on the day when a minimum purchase of £150 is spent on certain related kitchen products.

Comedian David Baddiel will host an “exclusive gourmet evening for 200” at the Floridita, Soho, with chefs Alyn Williams, Ben Spalding, Jose Pizarro, Mark Poynton, Mickael Weiss and Michelin star winners Russell Brown and Phil Thompson, to create a one-off menu to fundraise for CALM, the “campaign against living miserably” which operates a helpline and texting service four nights a week. The 30 April event follows the suicide of the chef Kevin Boyle, with the intention of enabling CALM’s helpline to run to 3am every night of the week. Tickets are on sale from skiddle.com and priced £200 per head for the meal matching wines, a champagne reception, live entertainment and an auction.